Automatic safety device for trolley-poles.



M. M. ZELLERS. AUTOMATIG SAFETY DEVICE FOR TROLLEY POLES. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 18, 1909.

ATTI'E'ST IN'VETSIT R flzid a Mahlqn izellel s.

BY .ATTYa Patented Apr. 12,1910.

"said UNITED STAIEPATENT oFFIoE.

MAHLON M. ZELLERS, or BELLEVIL E, ILIi IN01S.

AUTOMATIC SAFETY DEVICE son rn'oLLEY-roLEs.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 12, 1910i Application flied January 18, 1909; Serial No. 472,914.

T o all'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MAHLoN M. ZELLERS, citizen of the United States, residing at Bellevill'e, in. the county of St. Clair and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Saii'ety Devices 01' Trolley-Poles, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to an automatic safety device for trolley poles adapted to drop the trolley the instant it leaves the wire and thus prevent injury to the overhead worlc, all substantially as shown and described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

is fixed to'or upon the top of the car in any suitable way and has a spindle 2 rigid therewith and upon. which the remainder or the mechanism is rotatably mounted.

, 13 represents a so-called stand body, having a hub portion 3 mounted on spindle 2,

an arm 4 projecting horizontally therefrom at its bottom, and ears 5 at its sides on which the trolley ole base or yoke Y is pivoted. as a socket '6 carrying trolley pole 'The hub portion 3 of body part B is provided at its-sides with horizontal bores or holes andparallel rods R are-mounted in these bores and fiXedi therein 'by set screwsorsotherwise. Said. rods project through said bores upon both sides thereoL- but their.

greater.:length-isfoutward away from the trolley, and a cont-rollingsprin' 8 is mount.- ed on each rodand oompressib e thereon to sustain the "trolley in. raised or workin po sitiona ,will nowbe seen.- Thus, i the trolley; not-under distension and control of said springs it has nothing to hold itup and it dropsand remflinsdowmas-seen in Fig. 3 until restored;:to.; ser;yice bylthe conductor, Fig. 1. Therefore, thereis mechan- 1sm-..1ntermediate-0f said springs and the tro1ley,. fi st to sustain the trolley in Work ing position as long as it remains on 1138" wire, and, seeondl to trip said' -sustaining mechanism" and rep the: trolley when it leaves the wire. occurs" immediately upon the trolley leaving the wire, because the tripping parts are so arranged and set that when the trolley leaves the wire and flies u 'ward' under the power of sprin' s 8, so

it wil strike the tripping lever L an re-' lease said springs and of course drop. Now, taking up these mechanisms more in detail, the tension or lift springs 8 are supported between two cross heads, '0 and. D, respec- 3 5 tively, on said rods. The head G iS'dSCIlbGd as double because it has a front portion 10 sleeved on said rods and the ends of springs 8 socketed therein, and a rear portion 12 also sleeved on said rods and-provided with 7:

a pivot a interm'ediately at its bottom carrying said tri ping lever L and one end of the toggle lin S9 in the two pairs of said links 9 and 9. The other pair 9 of said links is pivoted at?) 'on-- theextremity of arm 4. The middle ends of said links meet and are pivoted at 0, and a roller or 's' ool l4r' is mounted in pivot. c'between sai' links.-

The said links are in pairs, preferably, and

adapted to straighten and shut down fa/r se enou h below the deadsenterline to cometo a 'raoedand locked position froni which they will-not be released by the usualf'ja'rring and jolti of the car, see Fig. 1.

ver L gpreferab y has a quadrant at its basefgs provided with a series'ofiholes handa'pirradapted to engage through-any one oi holes and corresponding holias-inthe-adjii cent links'9.. By this means lever L can be set inres V at tovsa'id links andjth t'ml on ley at. anyv esired angije pr' inclinationto.- trip more or less quic 1y when the trolleys flies its track, the. setting posjition of said.

,lever in this instanoebeingi 'ractiea'lly. 'ver;.-=.1 tical, Fig. 1. It might be ad usted 1n eithe 5 direction, as shown,

but, whenv ad'us'tedv made rigid with links 9.- Operative y,therej fore, the parts are the same as if and lever L. were in one piece. I z

Cross head 0 has a central ripen-spa be tween its ends IOand 12 andsi e. portions co'nnectin said ends to neg-rimmed to hub 3,111 respect to which it'hgs- Incr ment mp1 v b tfliit fllgy Q-f l length of sai open -.ro,s s-.et. I also-slidable onrods R, and hasso'okets star.

the corresponding-ended sipringsB; Finaljly' a link. or rod 16' on each sideconneets' he,

D with the trolley pole yoke Y a short distante l above pivot at on base B and in such rela- 116i contribute in that measure to the compression of thosprings, while at the same .timef -.me in the" same operation-the cross lie'a d C is forced forward by a downwardpressure exerted uponthe to gle links at their-middle in or through till- 1e aring roller l titherein. engaged by the curved fin or rib- 20 on the bottom of yoke Y. This is illustrated in Fig. 3, and to setor reestablish the parts after the trolley has jumped the wire and automatically released itself by striking le v ver L and throwing the parts into position Fig. 3, the conductor 'or operator simply pulls down on rope 21 till the parts'take position, Figs. 1 and 2, and which they will hold when such down pressure is released and the trolley is restored to the wire. 'In this case the two cross heads are drawn ,or pressed toward each other and springs 8' compressed so .as to have all the sustaining power the trolley pole requires. Then the tripping mechanlsm as such is out of trolley connection and cross head C fixed in position as shown in Fig. 2, but cross head 1) is in playing relation to or with the trolley through links 16 and applies the spring tension thereto through said'links. It follows that when the trolley leaves the Wire the tripping mechanism automatically takes care oil; it at once and cutsoutthe spring tension by yoke-Y striking lever Land thus releasing cross head 0. This occurs more quickly and reliably than could. be done by an at tendantif present for this'purpose, but such accidents usually take place without warning and often when the conductor is in another art of the fear collecting fares or the like.

bviously, the cross head C being released by actuating lever L the springs8 will force it back'and relieve spring tension it d hence dropping of the trolleypole. must i astantly follow. g'lhis is the first thing sough'teto be' accomplished by my invention because in thislies all the safety. The rest of the mechanism has to do with re'stablishing' and maintaining working conditions as abovede- This deviceis of great convenience in an case Whenone or two trolley poles arouse as --either can be instantly released and dropped by the operator, andin the case of -twol'poles the "idle one will lie down out off the-way while at the same ltime the sprin s I are liberated and relieved of all strain. This is a material improvement over all other methods known to me and in which the teni which said member'is opratwe and which are pivoted at one end arm and at the other to the cross b .above the pivot oftheyoke oh' cross heads id ym unted Oil" gravity.

' links permits the pole to drop; t 1

in presence o two witnesses;

sion always remained onjthe sl the trolley poles were tiedlo A p a W atI claim isi r ILA trolley pole and meta 'd 'h havingfa horizontal arm and-two sld a pair ofrods supported at the-s stand, cross-heads on thee of I and springs between said are r rods, and a trip-mechanism to;;. rele springs comprising a contaotlmfemb path of the pole pivotally mount of said cross head's .a' I toggle rying Said contact'meinber'. vl

2. The combination of the stan trolley having a vertical hub and y tal arm and ears oppos tely atitsP-si pole supporting yoke pivotally mounts said ears having a socket for the pole a rib lengthwise at its bottom, a pair rods adjustably fixed in said stand and wos;

cross heads slidably mounted thereon; gle linksconnecting one of said'heads '1; said arm on' the stand and springsao'n rods bearing against the other eroe and side rods connecting said lattgrj head with said yokeat a' point'rejl 3. A trolley pole supporting o 1 a it rods" 1'" stand on which it iswp voted aj i1 fixed horizontally on-: 'said stair and springs on the rods betweena in combination with side connections between one of said cross-heads andsaid yoke',

a tripping lever and link mechanism'adapt ed to be actuated by said pole when it ju'm s the wire and allows the trolley to drop .y

at. In ,a trolley safety mechanism, a pole.

and means to hold the pole at work comprising a stand and rods mounted thereon,

two separate cross heads on said rods and springs bet-ween the same on said rods, 111' combination with toggle link connections be tween said pole and one of said cross heads and said stand and connecting rods between the other of said cross heads. and the base j of the trolley pole, whereby the" tension of j said sprin sis-exerted to hold the trolley pole raise and the collapse of said tog 1e In testimon whereof I my signat' 

